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Page 22 of 254

July 25, 2022

DCP Operation Company LP and five other DCP Midstream LP subsidiaries will pay $3.25 million and will take corrective actions to strengthen leak detection and repair processes at eight Weld County, Colorado natural gas processing plants. DCP’s inadequate leak detection and repair requirements caused excess emissions of volatile organic compounds and other pollutants into the atmosphere, a violation of the Clean Air Act. The failures were discovered by Colorado’s innovative Air Pollution Control Division’s Leak Detection and Repair Program. DOJ

Tagged in: Environmental Fraud,

July 22, 2022

Medical device manufacturer Biotronik Inc. has agreed to pay nearly $13 million to resolve allegations of paying kickbacks to physicians in order to induce use of their implantable cardiac devices, and causing false claims to be submitted to Medicare and Medicaid.  The alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act were brought to light in a qui tam suit by Jeffrey Bell and Andrew Schmid, both former sales representatives for Biotronik, who as part of the settlement will receive a $2.1 million relator’s share.  USAO CDCA

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Medical Devices and DME, Medicare, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

July 22, 2022

Metric Lab Services, LLC, Metric Management Services LLC, Spectrum Diagnostic Labs LLC, and two of their owners, Sherman Kennerson and Jeffrey Madison, will pay $5.7 million to resolve allegations of False Claims Act violations. In their genetic testing fraud scheme, Metric and Spectrum paid kickbacks to certain marketers who solicited generic testing samples from Medicare beneficiaries, with false physician attestations that the testing was medically necessary. Kennerson and Madison both pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and are currently awaiting sentencing. DOJ, NJ USAO

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicare,

July 21, 2022

Jermaine Rose will spend 2 years in federal prison for abusing his position with the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency, using his insider access as a lead claims examiner to approve and release payment on fraudulent UI claims filed by his co-conspirators. In exchange, Rose received kickbacks ranging from $50 to $150 for each fraudulent claim he touched—claims which were submitted using fictitious or stolen identities. Rose, in his plea agreement, acknowledged that he was aware many of the claims he approved were fraudulent. USAO EDMI

Tagged in: Government Programs Fraud,

July 20, 2022

Texas-based clinical laboratory Inform Diagnostics, Inc., formerly known as Miraca Life Sciences, Inc., has agreed to pay $16 million to resolve allegations of violating the False Claims Act.  Inform admitted that it had a policy of conducting additional tests on biopsy specimens without an individualized determination on whether additional tests were medically necessary, then submitting bills for those unauthorized and unnecessary tests to Medicare and other federal healthcare programs.  USAO MA

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicare, Other Government Health Programs,

July 14, 2022

BioReference Health, LLC, formerly known as BioReference Laboratories, Inc. and OPKO Health, Inc., have agreed to pay nearly $10 million and enter into a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement to settle a whistleblower-brought case alleging it violated the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, and False Claims Act.  The alleged misconduct involved making lease payments to healthcare providers that exceeded fair market value, and later failing to report or return any overpayments to federal healthcare programs.  USAO MA

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, FCA State, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

July 14, 2022

Jesus Jose Mendez, co-owner of J&J Drywall, Inc., was sentenced to 3 years probation and ordered to pay $2.8 million to the IRS, and $62,730 to the MA DOL for evading income and employment taxes, and not making the requisite state unemployment contributions. From 2013 to 2017, defendants cashed over $16 million in business checks at check-cashing businesses and would leave cash-filled backpacks at their worksites from which to pay their employees. Meanwhile, deposits into the J&J bank account during this same timeframe equaled only $4 million, and deposits were frequently structured in amounts less than $10k, evading reporting requirements. Federal tax losses are estimated at just over $2.8 million, and the loss to MA DOL equaled nearly $63,000. Jamie Zambrano, Mendez’s business partner, is currently a fugitive. USAO RI

Tagged in: Accounting Fraud, Employment Tax Fraud, Tax Fraud,

July 13, 2022

Solera Specialty Pharmacy and its CEO, Nicholas Saraniti, has agreed to pay $1.31 million and enter into a three-year integrity agreement to resolve allegations of defrauding Medicare.  Solera allegedly submitted fraudulent claims for Evzio—a high-priced version of naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses—based on prior authorization requests that contained false clinical information, that were not actually approved by physicians, and that improperly listed Solera’s contact information as if it were the physician’s.  In connection with a criminal information, Solera has also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement.  The whistleblower in this case, a former employee of Evzio manufacturer kaléo Inc. named Rebecca Socol, will receive a $262,000 share of the settlement.  DOJ

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medicare, Pharma Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

July 13, 2022

The owner and operator of North Carolina-based Kapital Financial Services, Joseph Octave, has been sentenced to over 3 years in prison after being convicted of orchestrating a criminal conspiracy that caused a $2.5 million loss to the IRS.  Between 2014 and 2019, under Octave’s direction, employees at the tax preparation business’s two offices falsified clients’ tax returns by claiming false deductions, business losses, and credits.  DOJ

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Tax Fraud,

July 8, 2022

Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc., which provides propulsion and power systems for vehicles belonging to the Department of Defense and NASA, has agreed to pay $9 million to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit.  According to Brian Markus, a former employee, the company misrepresented its compliance with the cybersecurity requirements of contracts with those agencies, in violation of the False Claims Act.  For bringing a successful qui tam case, Markus will receive a relator’s share of $2.61 million.  USAO EDCA

Tagged in: Certifications, Cybersecurity and Data Breaches, Defense Contract Fraud, FCA Federal, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

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